Archives
The grills of summer
[podcast]http://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2010/06/The-Grills-of-Summer.mp3[/podcast] We’ve had at least one nice day so far this spring, and based on previous years (although, of course, as they say about RRSPs, past performance is no guarantee of future results) we may get at least one more before first frost this fall, so there’s just a possibility a few people may break out their barbecues for some outdoor cooking in the near future. In the U.S., the Memorial Day weekend at the end of May is seen as prime barbecuing time, which is probably why LiveScience, one of the science sites I frequent, recently answered that burning (sorry) question: “Why does grilled food turn black?” But in order to build suspense, I’m going to refrain from answering that this early ...Ball lightning
Now that we’re finally starting to see some hot weather, it won’t be long before we begin to see something else: thunderstorms and lightning (very, very frightening me! Galileo, Galileo...sorry, just a little Queen flashback). It’s the lightning, of course, that makes thunderstorms thunder. If I may quote myself from a previous column, lightning “is a massive but short-lived electrical discharge in the atmosphere, usually several kilometres long. “Lightning arises because of a charge separation in a cloud. A ‘charge separation’ just means that there are more electrons in one place than another. Cloud-to-ground lightning occurs when there are lots of free electrons in the base of the cloud. These electrons are discharged in what is called a stepped leader: ‘stepped’ ...The laser at 50
[podcast]http://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2010/05/Lasers-at-50.mp3[/podcast] You know you’ve been writing a column a long time when the 50th anniversary of a major scientific discovery comes along and you realize you wrote a column celebrating its 30th anniversary. But that’s exactly what’s happening this month. Next week (Saturday, May 15, to be precise) marks the 50th anniversary of the invention of the laser. And what follows is (with some slight revisions) the column I wrote to celebrate its 30 anniversary back in 1990. (But it’s OK: I promise not to trot it out again until the centennial.) On May 15, 1960, a cylindrical rod of synthetic ruby placed inside a spiral flashlamp by American physicist Theodore H. Maiman in his laboratory at Hughes Aircraft Company in California momentarily ...The Mpemba Effect
[podcast]http://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2010/04/The-Mpemba-Effect.mp3[/podcast] For all that we know about the physical world, there are a few phenomena that, though seemingly simple, continue to baffle us. And one of the most baffling is the Mpemba Effect. You may not know it by that name—I didn’t until I read an article on New Scientist’s website last week—but you’ve probably heard about it. Heck, you may even have gotten in an argument about it. The Mpemba Effect is the proper name of the counterintuitive fact that sometimes hot water freezes faster than cold water. As New Scientist explains, Aristotle remarked on this phenomenon in the 4th century B.C., and Francis Bacon wrote about it in 1620. Just 17 years after that, in the very same year in which ...Fred Morrison’s wonderful invention, the Frisbee
[podcast]http://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2010/02/Frisbee.mp3[/podcast] Fred Morrison died on Tuesday at the age of 90, one of those people you may never have heard of, but really should have. Morrison invented the Frisbee. Since millions of these and other flying discs have been sold since the 1950s, it’s perhaps a bit humbling to discover, though, that even though throwing a Frisbee well is a skill that can be acquired, nobody has pinned down all the details of the science involved. Morrison, born in Richfield, Utah, said the inspiration for the Frisbee went back to a Thanksgiving Day picnic in 1937 when he and his girlfriend (and future wife), Lu Nay, began throwing the lid of a popcorn tin back and forth. They soon found that a tin cake pan ...The Large Hadron Collider
You would have had to work very hard last week not to have heard that the Large Hadron Collider, the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, has just started operating on the Swiss-Franco border.Superlatives abound in any discussion of the LHC. It’s the largest machine in the world, 27 kilometres in circumference, 100 metres underground. Its 9,300 magnets, cooled to -271.1 C, colder than outer space, contain enough superconducting filaments to stretch to the sun and back five times over. Thousands of scientists from dozens of countries are involved...including physicists from the University of Regina.Which is why last Wednesday I was at the U. of R. for a teleconference linking media and physicists here with physicists in ...The science of fairy tales
I have a six-year-old daughter, which means in the past few years I’ve been reintroduced to the wonderful world of fairy tales.I’m as willing to suspend disbelief as the next guy--more so, probably, since I’m a reader and writer of fantasy--but I also have a scientific bent, and every once in a while I get to thinking about the scientific plausibility of these oft-told stories.Apparently I’m not the only one. Chris Gorski, writing for the Inside Science News Service of the American Institute of Physics, recently decided to look at some magical moments from famous fairy tales and examine them as a scientist. Could they actually happen?Gorski begins with Rapunzel, the Brothers Grimm ...Take me out of the ballgame
I have a confession to make: although born in the United States, I’m lousy at that country’s national pastime. I hit not, neither do I catch. If I had a dollar for every fly ball I dropped as kid, I could buy...well, a baseball glove, probably, but what would be the point?So this week I was pleased to discover that there are solid scientific grounds for missing easy pop flies, and they have nothing...well, very little...to do with a complete lack of skill and/or depth perception on my part.A team of researchers led by Alan Nathan at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and Terry Bahill at the University of Arizona, Tucson, will soon be publishing ...What lies beneath
Download the audio version.Get my science column weekly as a podcast.The house in which I live was built in 1926. Over the years, as we discovered recently when we had the walls of a couple of rooms repainted, several layers of wallpaper and paint have accumulated.Peeling back those layers is a bit like going back through time (and reveals quite a bit about the decorating sense of the original owners). And really old buildings sometimes have much more exciting things to find beneath the current paint and plaster than old wallpaper.Archaeologists in France examining a 12th-century church, for example, recently discovered an ancient mural beneath five layers of plaster.Buildings ...Acoustics
Acoustics have been on my mind recently, and not just because of (as some might suggest) the echoing empty space between my ears.First came the CFL Western semi-final game at Mosaic Stadium, where noise, reflected and focused by the stands, played at least some role in the Riders’ victory—and utterly failed to carry from the halftime stage in the end zone to our seats near mid-field. (It doesn’t seem to matter where they place the stage, either: the sound was just as bad at halftime at the last Grey Cup Regina hosted.)The acoustics of B.C. Place were in the news the following weekend, and crowd noise at Rogers Place in Toronto got mentioned more than once ...
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Magebane
“Spectacular” – Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Evil wizards, multi-level conspiracies, hidden kingdoms…Lee Arthur Chane…has done a marvelous job…Magebane is a very entertaining book and well worth the time.” – A.M. Donovan, Night Owl Reviews
I happily recommend Magebane and I’ll certainly give Chane’s next novel a try based on this one.” —Bill Capossere, Fantasy Literature
“…an original and delightful tale of epic fantasy and magic, steampunk science, adventure, tragedy, and love…” – Errant Dreams Reviews
Eight centuries ago, the world changed. A devastating war swept the lands, and the MageLords, who had long ruled by virtue of their spell powers, were driven to a distant place, separated from those they had ruled by a magical Barrier. With magic banished from the rest of the world, the MageLords became mere legend and people turned to science to improve their lives. But if one man has his way, all that is about to change….
Written as Lee Arthur Chane (the middle names of my older brothers, Jimmy Lee and Dwight Arthur, and myself, Edward Chane Willett).
Marseguro
Winner of the 2009 Prix Aurora Award for Best Long-Form Work in English
Water world Marseguro is home to the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from human DNA. When an unmodified human seeks revenge on a Selkie by activating a distress beacon taken from the remains of the original colony ship, a strikeforce is sent from Earth to eradicate the genetic abomination. Yet Marseguro will not prove as easy to conquer as the Earth force anticipates…
Terra Insegura
Finalist for the 2010 Prix Aurora Award for Best Novel in English
Marseguro, a water world far from Earth, is home to a colony of humans and the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from modified human DNA. For seventy years the colony has lived in peace. Then Earth discovers Marseguro, and a strike force is sent to eradicate this “abomination.” But Marseguro has created a genetically tailored plague to use against Earth’s Holy Warriors. With the enemy defeated, the people of Marseguro feel they are safe. But Chris Keating, the traitor who signaled Marseguro’s location to the Holy Warriors, has fled to Earth, unknowingly carrying the deadly plague within him. The people of Marseguro feel they must send a ship to Earth with a life-saving vaccine. Only time will tell what awaits them when they reach their destination.
Lost in Translation
Kathryn was a human empath whose world and life had been destroyed when the alien S’sinn slaughtered her parents before her very eyes. Jarrikk was a young S’sinn, an unproven warrior who’d seen his flight mates slaughtered by the humans who’d sought to colonize his world.
As humans and S’sinn found themselves on the brink of war, these two Translators had to work together to find a common ground and avert catastrophe. But whether their Translators’ oath and training could overcome the enemies leagued against them was very much in doubt…
Archives
Song of the Sword
My new YA fantasy novel from Lobster Press
Before the Lady called her, Ariane’s life was a mess. Two years ago, her mother disappeared. She bounced around different foster homes until her aunt finally took her in. The meanest clique at her new high school has decided to make Ariane their prime target. And to top it all off, she is having frightening premonitions, and they are becoming more intense. The moment water touches her skin, she sees visions of a lake, a lady, and a sword. When a staircase opens up in the middle of Wascana Lake and the water begins singing to her, she has no choice but to answer the call….
Historic Walks of Regina and Moose Jaw
Ten walks to points of historic and architectural interest in the cities of Regina and Moose Jaw (eight walks for Regina, two for Moose Jaw).
Johnny Cash: The Man in Black
When country music legend Johnny Cash took the stage at Folsom State Prison in 1968, he solidified the public’s perception of him as a rebel who followed his own path. Born in Arkansas during the Great Depression, Cash endured poverty, the death of his older brother, and a difficult relationship with his father. He turned to gospel and country music to express the pain, and after many years of struggling, his songs of hardship and hope would finally reach the ears of those waiting for an artist who represented them, ordinary people fighting to survive.
Andy Warhol: Everyone Will Be Famous for 15 Minutes
“Paintings are too hard. Machines have less problems…” In the 1960s, Andy Warhol became the most famous creator of a new style of art called pop art, which transformed mass-produced items of popular culture into fine works of art. From Campbell’s Soup cans to photographs of Marilyn Monroe, Warhol’s willingness to use anything and everything from the mass media in his work expanded the range of subject matter available to artists. His avant-garde films, artistic usage of American icons, and unconventional social life made him a controversial figure, both greatly admired and deeply reviled. A trendsetter rather than a trend-follower, a dispassionate observer of both the seamy and celebrity sides of life, Warhol was a true American rebel.
Disease-Hunting Scientist
The true stories of six real disease hunters. Epidemiologists travel the world trying to keep us safe from deadly diseases—from high-tech labs in Canada to remote villages in Africa. Learn how these “disease detectives” are coming up with new ways to fight disease, and find out if you have what it takes to become an epidemiologist, too!
The Bounty Mutiny
The Bounty was a British ship visiting Tahiti in 1789 when some of the crew overthrew the captain, William Bligh, and set him adrift in a tiny boat with sailors loyal to him. The mutiny resulted in a number of trials–both of the men who mutinied and of Bligh for losing command of his ship. These fascinating events have been the source for numerous Hollywood movies, most recently The Bounty. The Bounty Mutiny: From the Court Case to the Movie explores the famous case and the movies it inspired.
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